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Protecting the Assets

There was a time when hockey players, and athletes in most sports, were whimsically labelled as " assets ".

The players, hockey or otherwise, were thought of by those who owned the various sporting franchises as commodities, and like commodities and stock, when you'd got the most out of your asset, you moved on with other assets.

That line of thinking still exists but recent events in hockey underline that the theory is now short term.

The Edmonton Oilers biggest asset is Connor McDavid.

A year after being sidelined by a nasty hit into the boards involving he and Brandon Manning of the Flyers, the turmoil surfaced again last week, when McDavid insinuated Manning wasn't Manning enough to step up against the Oilers who are in place to protect the asset.

The Montreal Canadiens biggest asset is netminder Carey Price.

Price lost it last week when Kyle Palmieri of the New Jersey Devils crashed the crease and came too close to Price's knee.

Price angrily reacted with blocker shots and his teammates were quick to assist their primary asset.

And the primary asset for the NHL overall is their players and to that end, their protection and compensation, or lack thereof, threatens to keep top pros out of the next Olympic Games.